(adi Sankara) 11 Pandit Kumarilabhatttar Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Kumarilabhattar, a Pundit,
And a scholar of great repute,
Was lying in his death bed.
To see him, Sankara hurried.

Sankara’s thought like this.
“If the Pundit accepts
The ‘Advaita’ philosophy,
It’ll make my work easy.”

“For all the Pundit’s followers
Will then become my followers, ”
With this idea he proceeded,
But the Pundit was half dead.

The body upto his hip
Was burnt in the heap
Of burning saw dust,
When Sankara arrived just.

The Pundit was averse
To the Buddhists’ ideas.
So, he made out a plan
To defeat those men.

In disguise as a Buddhist,
He learnt their every text.
Then he challenged them
And finally defeated them.

His conscience didn’t permit,
Having betrayed the Buddhists.
As his action was unfair,
He burnt himself in fire.

To see him at that stage,
Sankara went to his cottage,
And said, “Oh Pundit
What you did is correct.”

“But a lifeless action,
Will have no reaction.
It’s the Lord’s will
That does every control.”

“You must understand
The fruit, at the end,
For every action you did,
Lies in the hands of God.”

The Pundit accepted
The ‘Advaita’ and died
One more step Sankara gained,
In this bold attempt he made.